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WORLD QUILT AND TEXTILE 1998

© Cynthia Morgan

Ozquilt Network Newsletter #28 June 1998

Returning to Pasadena after Easter for the second World Quilt and Textile Symposium was an exhilarating and rewarding experience for me. I really enjoyed renewing friendships formed last year with the three other international teachers who were invited back in 1998. Again this year I took a small exhibition of my 10 quilts 'Images of Australia II' which we hung on my arrival day. There were fewer exhibitions from individual countries this year as the Bernina World Quilt Competition took up the extra space.

In the Bernina World Quilt competition, there were 94 quilts juried into the Traditional Section and 185 quilts juried into the Innovative Section. The judging for this was an all day task on the Wednesday before the show opened that night. I was on the Traditional Judges panel with Barbara Barber from the UK and Shirley Bertolino, a Californian NQA judge. The Innovative Judging panel were Sue Broenkow, Helen Marshall from New Zealand, and Dixie McBride. Each team had two scribes who alternated recording our constructive comments on the evaluation sheets.

Each country's quilts were hung together and delineated by the numbering system so that we could decide on Best of Country in our section, and at the end of the day compare this quilt with the Best of Country in the Innovative section to see which should win the award for that country. There were only three countries which did not qualify for a Best of Country award as those countries had fewer than 20 entries and unfortunately Australia was one of these. There were 15 entries from Australia and 11 were juried into the show (the jurying in each case was done in the country of origin). Had there been 20 entries before jurying there would have been a Best of Country award. By comparison New Zealand had 75 entries of which 25 were juried into the show. The New Zealand entries were boosted by the incentive from the local Bernina manager that the maker of the entry deemed to be best at the jurying level in New Zealand was rewarded by a return fare to Pasadena to see the show. I met the delighted young mother who won the trip which she would not have been able to have otherwise.

Beside each of the quilts for judging was the Title, Size and Design Concept. After judging was completed this was replaced by another label with the maker's name, address, as well as Title, Size and Design Concept. At the end of the day Judges from both sections met and decided on Best of Country and Best of Show. After the Innovative team had stated their case for their choice being Best of Show, Barbara Barber asked me to put forward our viewpoint, and I was delighted to have swayed the other team to give Best of Show to a beautiful appliqued (Traditional) quilt 'Hummer Harmony' with which we could find no fault. The Innovative Quilt was most striking but the design had not been resolved to perfection.

After this I taught three classes - 'Fabulous Flowers', 'Quilts from Nature' and 'Underwater World' which were well attended again, and a delight to teach. I was helped once again considerably by Lily from Bernina who was on hand all day to fix any problems for those unfamiliar with the new Virtuosa 160 machines supplied by Bernina - this was a great help indeed when I had 18 or 20 in the class and wanted to spend my time helping students with design.

My evening lecture on 'Australian Quilts 1988 - 1998: A decade of Change' was well received, and several people stayed on to talk to me. This year the International Panel and Forum with panelists from Australia, France, Japan, New Zealand, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and USA, was sponsored by Leman Publications on the final night. There was a relaxed air and lively discussions on many pertinent issues. On the Sunday I was guest at a tea in my honour at a quilt shop to which some of my students go, and this was an enjoyable gathering. Once again I found the Mancusos (the organisers) and their staff a delight with whom to work, and I look forward to our next meeting.

© Cynthia Morgan 1998
 

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